I SHALL not prefume to pronounce any thing upon the point; but barely to obferve, that it was easy to build fuch a fable, as that of ORPHEUS, upon the foundation of fuch a history as this of DAVID.

CHAP. XVIII.

The Adventure of Nabal recounted at large. Mr. Bayle's Cenfure of David's Conduct on this Occafion confidered.

DAVID,

AVID, as I obferved in the last chapter, could do no good amongst thofe barbarians the Arabs; and for this reason, it is probable, he took the first opportunity he could, with fafety, to leave them.

As it was not the purpose of the facred hiftorians to give a minute description of David's wandrings in his exile, but to fhew the remarkable protection of the divine Providence which attended him in that period of his life; we should not be furprized to find several breaks in the relation, ftudiously

dioufly omitting minuteneffes, and hastening to extraordinary and interefting events, one of which is related immediately after the account of David's going to Paran, and is as follows:

MAON, in the south of Judea, was a city which gave its name to the neighbouring wilderness, which is thought to have been contiguous to that of Paran.

IN this city dwelt a rich man; but, as the text expreffes it, churlish and evil in his doings, whofe name was Nabal. And as the riches of thofe times confifted in natural wealth, fuch as flocks and herds, Nabal, we are told, had three thousand sheep, and a thoufand goats; thefe he fed in Carmel, which, poffibly, was a part of the wildernefs of Maon, at leaft was in its neighbourhood. Not that Carmel fo famed for the refidence of Elisha; for that was in the north of Judea, and this in the fouth.

o IN this Carmel, while David was in that neighbourhood, Nabal had a fheep-fhearing; -and as that was anciently, and I believe is ftill, a feafon of great rural feftivity, Nabal made a feast for his hinds. Which David hearing of, fent ten of his fervants with a

very kind falutation, and a request, agreeable to the fimplicity and hospitality of that age, that he would, out of the plenty provided for the occafion, fend him and his men fome refreshment.

THE man, it seems, was an unworthy defcendant from the great Caleb; and, as I now observed, morofe and churlish, one that knew no end of the abundance with which GOD had blessed him beyond fatiety and furfeit. He was, what Caligula used to call Syllanus, a golden brute *. And when David's fervants had delivered their meffage, he returned an answer agreeable to his character, rude and fullen, and very natural to that infolence which wealth is too apt to dictate to undisciplined spirits †.

THE meffage and the answer are both fingular in their kind, and not unworthy our regard. The former, as it is a fine picture of the ancient and true politeness; and the latter, a strong image of ungoverned brutality. Both these are to be met with in 1 Sam. xxv. 5, &c. And David fent out

樂

Χρυσῖν πρόβατον. This is properly a golden beep.
† Δεινόν γε τοῖς πλοτᾶσι τὸτο ἔμφυ]ον

Σκαιοίσιν εἶναι

ten young men, and David faid unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. And thus fhall ye fay to him that liveth, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou haft. And now I have heard that thou haft fhearers: now thy Shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was their aught miffing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee: wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: (for we come in a good day) give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand, unto thy fervants, and to thy fon David. And when David's young men came, they Spake to Nabal according to all these words, in the name of David, and ceafed.

THREE things, in this meffage, are well worth our notice. First, the direction, to him that liveth; and, fecondly, the falutation, Peace to thee, and peace to thine house, &c. In the Scripture, living and being happy are fynonymous *. David's own benevolent

*From them the Latin poets learnt this style:

Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus :

Let us, my Lesbia, live and love.

Ipirit fuggested to him, that, being happy ourselves, we should delight to make others Thare in our happiness. GOD does fo; and the man after GoD's own heart does fo too: At the fame time David well knew, that Nabal was bound to relieve him, from God's own exprefs command *.

IN the next place, the beauty and propriety of that ancient eastern salutation, Peace be to thee, &c. is very emphatical; inasmuch as the best bleffings of life; and all the focial affections, attend upon peace.

AND, in the last place, the modesty of this message is very remarkable! For tho David had much real merit towards Nabal, yet he puts his request only upon the foot of having no demerit towards him well knowing, that fome martial men are wont to deem this merit enough towards the tame inhabitants of the country, and they to think it fo; but at the fame time referring him to his own fervants for a fuller information.

STUPID Nabal, infenfible to all these civilities, returns an answer, agreeable to the

*Deut. xv. 7. If there be among you a poor man (that is, one in neceffity) of any of your brethren,- thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor fout thine hand from thy poor brother. bear

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